Danbury school officials sued over alleged attacks on special needs student

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published
8:00 pm EDT, Thursday, August 14, 2008

The lawsuit, filed late last month by the alleged victim's mother, claims the woman's daughter was sexually assaulted by another student at the school on Oct. 2, 2007.

A Danbury police official confirmed Friday that officers were sent to the school on that date on a sexual assault complaint.

Police spokesman Capt. Bob Myles declined to say whether the complaint was investigated or if any arrests were made in the case.

Records in the case are unavailable because it was a juvenile matter, according to an official in the police records division.

The lawsuit also claims the girl was physically assaulted Dec. 20 when her head was "pushed from behind into a wall, breaking her jaw in three places and losing teeth."

Police said a complaint about a physical assault at the school was made the following day. It was not immediately known if the student involved in the sexual assault was also involved in the physical altercation.

The document states that the girl was required to undergo four hours of surgery at Danbury Hospital following the Dec. 20 incident, including having her jaw wired shut.

Other injuries claimed in the lawsuit include vaginal bleeding, rectal pain, hemorrhaging and severe emotional distress.

The lawsuit states that school officials "should have identified the plaintiff as a target of bullying, harassment or potential assault based on the prior interaction between the plaintiff and her classmates and her status as a special needs student."

State child advocate Jeanne Milstein said that while she was wasn't aware of the specifics of the case, "it's a tragedy when an act of violence or abuse occurs in a school. Its one of the places we count on to be safe."

Milstein added that she hopes school officials provided the appropriate services to the alleged victim or anyone who may have witnessed the alleged attacks.

"It would certainly be very traumatic for them as well," she said.

Although the lawsuit doesn't state where the alleged assaults took place, it does claim that school officials "failed to adequately keep the hallways in a safe condition."

Pascarella, reached by telephone Friday, declined to comment on the matter.

Board of Education chairwoman Susan Podhajski said she was aware of the allegations but also declined to comment.

Mayor Mark Boughton referred questions about the matter to school officials.

Attorneys for both the school system, Mark Perkins, and for the plaintiff, Vicki Ferrara, were unavailable for comment despite a reporter's repeated attempts to reach them.

An attorney for the school system filed a motion in the case in June seeking a 60-day extension on any pleadings, stating that "counsel is in the process of investigating each and every allegation in this matter."

Court officials have yet to rule on the motion.

Contact Dirk Perrefort at dperrefort@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3358.